


But There's a Comfort in Failure

by PunkTsuki



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Light Angst, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, brief pliroy, otayuri - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 17:57:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12940653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkTsuki/pseuds/PunkTsuki
Summary: “How can you still look so attractive while crying” He breathed.Yuri’s head snapped up at that, heart sinking. No. Otabek was not to waste these words on him.The title of this work is from "Shadowboxing" by Julien Baker.





	But There's a Comfort in Failure

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my tumblr @ punktsuki
> 
> Inspired by a prompt I received which was: “How can you still look so attractive while crying.”
> 
> Yuri is 17 in this which is of the age of consent where I live but if that's uncomfy for you, that's okay. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Yuri felt like shit. He always did when he’d been to see JJ, leaving his parent’s house in last night’s outfit without goodbyes. He always left the older boy sleeping in his bed and JJ expected as much. Yuri was always gone in the morning, and that was their agreement. Send each other hateful glances and sneers outside the bedroom, at school and keep this part of their lives a secret. 

It wasn’t that they loved each other or anything disgusting. No, it wasn’t like that. JJ was just lonely and Yuri wanted to help in the only way he knew how. 

The thing is though, that Yuri gets lonely too. He thought that maybe helping JJ would help him. He can’t lie to himself and say that his intentions were selfless from the beginning, he wanted something out of this too. For a while, it worked. But now…the bruises on his hips and the feel of JJ on his skin isn’t enough. 

In some ways, Yuri wanted to be more. Not because he actually liked JJ. Sure, he was hot and he knew what he was doing but there was nothing there. Yuri wished there was though, just so that he knew that he could be enough. So that he knew he was needed and not just wanted. 

This was why Yuri found himself found himself now, knocking hesitantly at his best friend’s bedroom door. Otabek’s mother had let him in. 

“Yuri!” She exclaimed “Otabek is is asleep, tell him he needs to get up for school. Oh! And tell him his sisters are making breakfast, I’ll set a plate for you too” She ushered him in down the hallway while yelling out orders in Kazakh and muttering about Allah’s apparent disappointment in her children’s behavior. 

Yuri heard no reply from the other side of Otabek’s door but he turned the door handle, tentatively poking his head around the door as it squeaked on its hinges. He stepped into the room, trying to avoid stepping on the few pairs of jeans that were scrunched up on the bedroom floor. He ignored the grumbled curses coming from a lump that was one of Otabek’s brothers, still fast asleep on the top of the bunk bed to his right. He made his way to the far side of the room to Otabek’s bed. 

“Hey, Beka” Yuri said, not bothering to keep quiet. This asshole should be up already. Otabek was laying on his stomach, face peacefully relaxed and drooling onto the pillow. Gross. “Beka” Yuri repeated before he huffed and climbed over his friend and into the bed, slipping in next to him. Otabek rolled over to face him, dark eyes blinking and confused. 

“Am I dreaming?” Otabek mumbled, that crease between his dark brows he gets when he’s confused appeared. Yuri let out a breathy laugh. His friend was hopeless. “You’re so pretty in the morning, Yura” Otabek whispered. 

Yuri’s cheeks turned red and a fire was ignited in the pit of his belly. 

“And this is my queue to leave” Otabek’s brother jumped down from the top bunk with a thump and exited the room, closing the bedroom door behind him. Yuri turned back to Otabek. 

“Don’t say things like that, Beka” His voice shook, but he hoped that Otabek was still too sleep-foggy to notice. 

“Are you okay?” Otabek sat up no, half of his hair stood up, defying gravity in a sleepy muss. God, he was fucking beautiful. Yuri pushed that though to the back of his mind and forced the lump in his throat down. Yuri was good at hiding but not from Otabek. “He, what’s wrong? Are…is that what you were wearing yesterday?” 

The tears pricked and Yuri’s eyes and threatened to spill over onto his cheeks. He couldn’t speak. He just nodded. 

“Where have you been, Yura? You barely like being seen in public with the same outfit within the space of a week” Otabek’s voice was laced with concern now. “What’s going on?” Yuri just sat up and tucked his knees to his chest. 

“I’m not.” Yuri paused. He tried to choke them down, he did but the tears were rolling silently down his face now in hot streams. “I’m not enough” he all but whispered. 

“You saw JJ again, huh?” Otabek said. It wasn’t really a question; he already knew the answer. Yuri averted his gaze. He couldn’t make himself look into those dark chocolate eyes. “Yura, he treats you like shit” Otabek whispered but Yuri could tell that there was anger there. 

“Let me see you, Yura” Otabek reached out and gently tucked the strands of Yuri’s hair that were hiding his face behind his ear. “How can you still look so attractive while crying” He breathed. Yuri’s head snapped up at that, heart sinking. No. Otabek was not to waste these words on him. 

“Beka, I’m crying, I’m a mess and I’m used up” Yuri croaked. 

“Yuri Plisetsky” Otabek half growled. “You are enough. You are beautiful, and I know you have more to give than that asshole deserves.”

It happened before Yuri even saw it coming. Otabek’s hand was suddenly cupping Yuri’s cheek as if he were giving it a home and his lips were pressed against his in the sweetest, most chaste kiss Yuri thought he had ever experienced. Was this what it was like to be needed? 

Otabek wasn’t much for words, but when he did speak, it was all too common for him to take Yuri’s breath away.


End file.
